Baby Matthew Turns 3, See…Miracles do Happen in This Day and Age

Today Micca and Gerry celebrate Baby Matthew’s Birthday. By his Chronological age he is 3 years old. It seems like just yesterday that someone said to these parents, your son will not make it, he was born too early. But God had the last word and the faith of these parents impacted the miracle that we have today. Matthew running around like a normal little boy, getting in to things as all baby boys do at this age. Many blessings and congratulations from 27 Miracles to you Matthew and your parents.

When Matthew came out of the hospital, his parents wanted to do a baby dedication to show God and the world how much they believed in Miracles by dedicating Matthew to the Lord. Thank you to the vendors that made this event successful.

New Beginnings/DJ http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/new-beginnings-events-cape-coral/2ae73b735803e1d9.html

Harpist Christine MacPhail http://www.orlandoharpist.com/

First Baptist Orlando http://www.firstorlando.com/

Vocalist Christopher Gaitan

Vocalist Laura Knowles

The Story of Matthew a Miracle from God:

It was April 2009 when Micca discovered that she was about 4 weeks pregnant, Gerry and Micca were very happy to bring a child into this world, especially Gerry. Elda was one of the first people that found out that Micca was pregnant. Little did they both know the strong bond of support that Elda would be providing for Micca as she and Gerry were going to embark on a journey of trials.

The pregnancy was a challenge from the first few weeks of conception. During a routine examination of the baby and blood work, it was revealed that Micca’s progesterone level was very low, so the doctor ordered progesterone to be taken up to the baby’s 13th week of gestation. Without the progesterone, the baby would not survive.

The 14th week of life brought abdominal pains. Gerry tried to comfort Micca and thought that it was normal growing pains. The pain persisted over the next day. While she was visiting with her mother in law Rosa she was not feeling well and when she went home, she started to have spotting. Micca was home alone when she started having bleeding and unbearable pain. She thought to herself that she had to get to the emergency room. There was no time to call anyone. On her way there, she heard the song, “He’s My Son” and at that very moment she cried out to the Lord for Him to have mercy on her and her baby. She did not know if she was having a son or not, however she just wanted the baby to be healthy.

While at the hospital emergency room, they did an ultrasound and sure enough they told her she was having a boy and his heart rate was strong. Along with that news came some more news. The doctor came in and stated that she has a shortened cervix and the baby would not survive the pregnancy much longer. They will have to deliver the baby and he will not survive.

She asked to be transferred to another doctor and hospital. She ended up at Florida Hospital under the care of Dr Ahmalt. Soon after she arrived, Dr Ahmalt examined her cervix and informed her that she would only have a 5 percent chance to save the baby. Micca, with faith in her heart, told the doctor to give her 10 percent and leave 90 percent with God. The doctor smiled and said “okay, surgery in 7 days”. Within those 7 days, Micca prayed, from morning till night about the coming surgery. The special surgery, called a Circlage, would help Micca to keep the baby in her womb longer.

Micca remained in the hospital 101 days. During the 101 days that Micca was in the hospital on bed rest, Gerry never left Micca’s side. He came to visit every day and spent the night at her bedside after work, despite being tired to encourage her. Micca had a good support system going with her mom, mother in law, grandparents and sisters. They all brought her encouragement and comfort food while she was on bed rest.

Micca believed that there were three angels that were placed in her life with a purpose, her three friends, Elda, Karen and Daisy. They visited her faithfully with words of support and encouragement.

Then on an unexpected Thursday September 24th 2009, the baby could no longer stay inside, he was breech, and started kicking and was affecting the cervix staying closed. Delivery was a necessity. Micca was 27 weeks; she could not hold the baby any longer, as the baby was breech and kicking. The doctor ordered an immediate C-section to prevent Micca from losing any more blood. Micca was devastated at the doctor’s decision because she had sacrificed so long on bed rest and wanted to have a normal delivery time. Baby Mathew was delivered at 5pm on the 24th of September, 2 lbs 2oz. Gerry had just left an about an hour before all of this happened. His first reaction was that of shock but at the same time proud that he was a father.

Matthew was admitted to the NICU as soon as he was born. He had tubes and monitors coming out everywhere. This was very overwhelming for both Micca and Gerry. At this time the prayers for the baby’s survival started. While praying for Matthew the song He’s My Son” kept coming back to Micca and it gave her strength as she prayed to the Lord…..

Many days and weeks went by with daily visits to the NICU at what seemed good and bad days. Or as they always said in the NICU two steps forward and ten steps backwards.

Things began to take a turn for the worse in the middle of October. Matthew began to require more oxygen every day and the doctors eventually found out that Mathew had contracted a hospital borne illness called Seratia, which had gotten into his lungs. If not treated, Seratia can become very dangerous for a premature baby. Matthew was also treated with steroids to help with the maturation of his lungs, but Matthew did not tolerate the medications.

Matthew got to the point where he required 100% oxygen. This lasted months. To Micca and Gerry this was very scary. During this desperate and trying time, Matthew had two nurses who fell in love with him, Charlotte and his nurse practitioner Lisa. They never gave up on Matthew and kept trying to find out what else they could do to help Matthew. But at the same time, they knew Matthew was running out of time. Charlotte took care of Matthew like he was her own son. Whenever Micca found out Charlotte was on a shift, she knew this was the opportunity to take a much needed break because she knew Matthew was loved and under the best care possible.

Lisa, Matthew’s nurse practitioner and Dr Goldberg also never gave up on Matthew. They were always trying to find a solution towards Matthew’s care. Matthew’s unstable breathing patterns were not easy to deal with from day one. After a month of being on 100 % oxygen, Matthew’s condition worsened instead of improving.

One Tuesday night the nurses had to manually ventilate Mathew twice because his heart rate kept slowing down to the point that he would not survive if left untreated. That Tuesday night Micca was working and Gerry was in the hospital with Matthew. When Micca arrived for her evening visit, the nurse’s face showed nothing but worry for Matthew. At the same moment, the Doctor on call said, “Mom Adolphe, Matthew may not make it tonight, he is very sick and we are not sure what is going to happen. The doctor as gently as possible told Micca that she needs to start thinking about the next step” Micca’s faith was once again tested. She looked at the Dr. right in his eyes and said “As long as my God is good, my son will live and he will come home”.

Gerry and Micca were upset, but they held their head up high, because they felt they had to be strong for each other and Matthew. Micca started to pray Psalm 23.

Micca accepted that God could possibly take Mathew and she committed her son to the Lord and said, “God, May Your Will Be Done”. But in her heart she was dying, crying, asking God for Mercy, telling God to take her instead and give Matthew life. Micca called her mother and told her the news about Mathew. Micca’s mom, also being a woman of faith said, “My child, close your eyes and let’s Pray.”

Where two or more of you agree together in prayer about anything, you will have what you ask, because I am also there in your midst. Mother and Daughter agreed in prayer for Mathew’s life and Micca went back to Mathew’s room with a sense of peace and hope in her heart. Micca’s father Orius prayed as well, asking our Heavenly Father to give life to Mathew because of the child’s innocence. Gerry’s mother and sister Jeanette also came to provide support and encouragement to Micca and Gerry. They cried, telling Matthew how much they loved him and for him to stay strong and not to give up.

During this time, Lisa, Matthew’s nurse practitioner left and care was transferred to Dinorah, another nurse practitioner. Lisa entrusted baby Matthew in her hands.

At that moment Micca said to herself. “I’m going to fight this battle, not with my own strength, but with prayers lifted to the Lord above. So Micca began to look for God that night with prayers. The next morning Charlotte, Matthew’s primary nurse was bathing Matthew and as Micca approached the room, she heard her softly whisper “Lord, May Your Will Be Done for Matthew.”

During that time, Micca’s sister in law called her to give her a number to Dr Ajai, a pulmonary doctor. What a small world, that very same morning Charlotte also gave Micca the number to Dr Ajai. Dr Ajai and his partner Dr Verma developed a plan to get Matthew off the vent.

That same day Micca cried to God, wondering why He was not listening to her prayers, so she called on Jesus name asked him to speak to God, telling God that Matthew needs Him to please hurry because there is not much time left. I knew that Jesus would hear my prayer and that he would come to visit Matthew. The Days went by and Matthew was still very critical and sick but as the days progressed Micca kept her faith and believed that God was intervening in her son’s life.

Micca would whisper in Mathew’s ear, small affirmations of faith. “Don’t worry my son, Jesus will come visit you and he will heal you”. 14 days later, Mathew started to make small improvements and eventually was taken off the ventilator.

As the holidays approached Matthew grew and grew. He got to wear clothes as soon as he reached 3 pounds. What joy to see Matthew in clothes that were big enough for a doll to wear. But with the holidays fast approaching, the news came with the sadness that Matthew would not be home for Christmas. All around people were rejoicing with their children. Micca and Gerry wanted to be strong so that they could enjoy Christmas despite what was happening with Matthew.

Right before the holidays Micca met a couple in the NICU named Rosie and Marcus. They were the parents of baby Kaleb, also born at 27 weeks and a mere 1lb 10oz, just two weeks after Matthew was born. Micca told Rosie and Marcus the story of how she remembered seeing Rosie walking in to the NICU for the first time. Without knowing a thing about Rosie and Marcus, Micca prayed for them, even though she had her own set of challenges with Baby Matthew.

The weeks went by and Matthew grew stronger and stronger, despite the fact that he would have set backs after a progress forward. The last few weeks there was a lot of back and forth on Matthew’s feedings and whether he could tolerate the feedings or not. The end conclusion was that he was not tolerating the feedings.

It was decided that On March 12th Matthew would have a g-tube placed to help him with his feedings and bilateral inguinal hernia repairs. This brought Micca and Gerry back to the day he was born, due to the fear of having him on the ventilator again following the surgery. But it was a necessary procedure and all were hopeful that Matthew would do well.

The Lord certainly heard Micca and Gerry’s prayers because Matthew had his surgery and came off the ventilator after he was intubated!!!!!!!The preparation started for Matthew to go home in a week. CPR classes, monitor training with the apnea machine, breathing treatment training, medication training, g-tube care and feedings. WOW!! Very overwhelming! But the excitement of finally leaving a place that became Matthew’s first home for 6 months was more exciting.

On 3/19/10 Matthew took his first car ride and it was to go to his home with Mommy and Daddy!! The song that came to mind was Celebration by Kool and the Gang:

Everyone Meet Matthew Adolphe, a miracle of God…….

Mathew has been a miracle child from the beginning and God’s thumbprint has been all over his life. Gerry and Micca witnessed the birth of their son. Their friends and family provided much needed support to help them get through one of the most difficult things any couple can ever go through. Micca and Gerry wanted to celebrate this miracle with you by sharing their story, celebrating Mathew’s life and God’s faithfulness to them.

Let’s rejoice with Micca and Gerry as they have their little Miracle from God Baby Matthew in their arms.